Close for Inter! Nagatomo's delivery is met by Alvarez's stooping header but Berisha is well placed to turn it over the bar

15'

Mazzarri's first substitution sees Kovacic brought on in place of Kuzmanovic

14'

Inter have set up their stall in Lazio's half now but haven't been able to penetrate as of yet

13'

Guarin's long-range effort sails over

11'

Guarin slides a splendid ball into the path of Palacio, who controls well only to see it hacked away from him as he prepares to shoot

10'

Jonathan and Ranocchia both attempt shots in rapid succession: the first is blocked, the second over

8'

Smart move by Guarin there: he drives through the middle and lays off for Kuzmanovic, who's crowded out by Lazio defenders

5'

Inter are edging their way deeper into Biancocelesti territory

1'

The Nerazzurri get us going again

1'

The two sides are taking a while to settle into their stride in this second period

Zanetti

4.51

4.51

Cambiasso

4.57

4.57

Milito

4.57

4.57

Ranocchia

2.77

2.77

Nagatomo

4.2

4.2

Alvarez

3.48

3.48

Jonathan

3.86

3.86

Jesus

5.48

5.48

Guarin

4.22

4.22

Palacio

4.66

4.66

Handanovic

4.59

4.59

Kuzmanovic

3.43

3.43

Kovacic

4.32

4.32

Rolando

5.35

5.35

Average rating

4.29

3

shots on target

1

5

shots off target

9

11

fouls committed

16

6

corners

4

4

offsides

2

44%

ball possession

56%

One win in eight for Lazio

Lazio have managed just one win in their last eight matches: a 2-0 home success against Livorno on 15 December; their other results in that period have been three draws and four defeats.

Palacio the man

Rodrigo Palacio is one of the two most decisive players in Serie A 2013/14 as his goals have earned the Nerazzurri 13 points (Juventus' Vidal is the other with the same record). Palacio has scored the key goals in Inter's away wins at Catania and Udinese (both 0-3), Sassuolo (0-7), the home victory over AC Milan (1-0) and the 3-3 draw at Torino.

Inter's firepower at the back

Inter are the Serie A side with the most goals from defenders this term. Eight have been provided by the Nerazzurri rearguard: Nagatomo (4), Jonathan (2), Ranocchia and Rolando.

Nerazzurri on 11-game scoring streak

Walter Mazzarri's men have found the net in each of their last 11 competitive fixtures, racking up 24 goals in all. They haven't drawn a blank since 5 October (Inter 0-3 Roma).

ROME - The new year started on the wrong foot for Inter as they slipped to defeat at the hands of Lazio in the Stadio Olimpico tonight. Klose struck gold for the hosts with a splendidly taken volley in the 81st minute.

Walter Mazzarri started with his favoured three-man system defensive system, Ranocchia, Rolando and Juan Jesus lining up in front of Handanovic, and five across the middle: Jonathan, Alvarez, Cambiasso, Kuzmanovic and Nagatomo. Palacio led the line once again with Guarin in support.

After a slow start, the first decent chance fell to Lazio in the 11th minute: Jonathan and Ranocchia struggled to clear their lines and Handanovic had to rush out to disturb Lulic, the wideman's lob fortunately dropping wide of the far post.

Guarin was then brought down by Dias as he charged towards goal but the Lazio man was only shown a yellow. Alvarez curled the resulting free kick just over.

Handanovic reacted smartly once again to deny Klose with a low stop on 25 minutes, before Dias was let off for a nasty foul on Guarin when a second yellow might well have been given.

Candreva's effort from the edge of the box was parried by Handanovic before time was called on the first 45 minutes.

Ten minutes after the restart, Palacio was agonisingly close to pulling the trigger in front of Berisha following a delightful through ball from Guarin but Biava performed a perfectly timed interception to clear the danger.

Inter finally took a grip on the game at this stage - aggressive in attack and alert at the back - while Juan Jesus made up for earlier errors with some fantastic defensive work.

Milito came on to a roar from the travelling Nerazzurri faithful but it was another veteran striker who settled the encounter. Klose slipped away from Ranocchia and latched onto Candreva's delivery to hit a magnificent volley on the spin past Handanovic's despairing dive.

With Inter piling forward seeking an equaliser, the German frontman almost made it 2-0 in the dying seconds, but Juan Jesus slid in with a last-ditch tackle.